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2nd Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
When war broke out with Germany in September 1939 the 2nd Battalion Black Watch was already on active service in Palestine and was to be deployed in a successful rearguard action against overwhelming Italian forces in Somaliland in August 1940. It was then sent to Crete to help defend the island from the anticipated German invasion.
In 1941 German paratroopers descended on the 2nd Battalion at Herklion, eventually forcing the withdrawal of the garrison. It was next fought in Tobruk, and then was sent to India in 1944. The 2nd Battalion was trained for the Second Chindit Expedition, divided into two columns. It spent 5 months behind Japanese lines disrupting communications, supplies and reinforcements. Supplied by air drop, they attacked and ambushed enemy columns in thick jungle, heat, disease and the monsoon. The 2nd Battalion ended the war training as a parachute unit for the planned invasion of Malaya.
3rd Dec 1939 Orders
3rd Jan 1940 Wrong Station 
5th August 1940 Italians capture a Port
7th August 1940 Reinforcements
15th August 1940 Withdrawal
17th August 1940 Evacuation
19th August 1940 Withdrawal from Somalia
20th May 1941 Landings
20th May 1941 In Action
1st Sep 1941 Training
2nd Sep 1941 Training
3rd Sep 1941 Training
4th Sep 1941 Training
5th Sep 1941 Training
Feb 1944 Chindit force preparations In early February 1944 preparations began for the 2nd Chindit Expedition. The Special Force or 3rd Indian Division as it was known consisted of the following units, which were split into Columns.
3rd West African Brigade and 14th Brigade
- 6th Btn. Nigeria Regiment. (Columns 66 & 39)
- 2nd Btn. Black Watch (Columns 42 & 73)
- 7th Btn Nigeria Regiment (Columns 29 & 35)
- 1st Btn. Beds & Herts Regiment (Columns 16 & 61)
- 12th Btn. Nigeria Regt (Columns 12 & 43)
- 2nd Btn. York & Lancaster Regiment (Columns 84 & 65)
- 7th Btn Leicestershire Regiment (Columns 47 & 74)
- 54th Field Company, Royal Engineers
77 Brigade and 111 Brigade
- 3rd Btn. 6th Gurkha Rifles (Columns 36 & 63)
- 1st Btn. Cameronians (Columns 26 & 90)
- 1st Btn. Kings (Liverpool) Regiment (Columns 81 & 82)
- 2nd Btn. Kings Own Royal (Lancaster) Regiment (Columns 41 & 46)
- 1st Btn. Lancashire Fusiliers (Columns 20 & 50)
- 3rd Btn. 4th Gurkha Rifles (Column 30)
- 1st Btn. South Staffordshire Regiment (Columns 38 & 80)
- 3rd Btn. 9th Gurkha Rifles (Columns 57 & 93)
23rd Indian Infantry Brigade
- 1st Btn. Essex Regiment (Columns 44 & 56)
- 2nd Btn. Duke of Wellington's Regiment (Columns 33 & 76)
- 4th Btn. Border Regiment (Columns 34, 55)
- 60th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, deployed as infantry, (Columns 60 & 68)
- 12th Field Company, Royal Engineers
16th Brigade Morris Force
- 1st Btn. Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment (Columns 21 & 22)
- 4th Btn. 9th Gurkha Rifles (Columns 49 & 94)
- 2nd Btn. Leicestershire Regiment (Columns 17 & 71)
- 3rd Btn. 4th Gurkha Rifles (Column 30)
- 45th Recce Regiment (Columns 45 & 54)
- 51st and 69th Field Regiments, Royal Artillery, deployed as infantry (Columns 51 & 69)
- 2nd Field Company, Royal Engineers
Dah Force
Stronghold Defences
- R S & U Troop 160th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (25 Pounders)
- W X Y & Z Troops 69th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (Bofors)
Divisional Troops
- 219th Field Park Company, Royal Engineers
- Detachment 2nd Burma Rifles
- 145th Brigade Company, R.A.S.C.
- 61st Air Supply Company, R.A.S.C.
- 2nd Indian Air Supply Company, R.I.A.S.C.
Feb 1944 Chindit force preparations
24th Mar 1944 On the March
27th of March 1944 Plan
20th of April 1944 Move
21st of April 1944 Change of Plan
23rd of April 1944 Move
24th of April 1944 Orders Recieved
1st of May 1944 Report
6th May 1944 Orders
10th May 1944 Evacuation
26th of May 1944 Reinforcement
27th of May 1944 Maintain position
If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here.
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Want to know more about 2nd Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)? There are:1345 items tagged 2nd Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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CSM Charles Herbert Baggs 2nd Battalion Black Watch My grandfather, CSM Charles Herbert Baggs, 2nd Battalion Black Watch, was held in Stalag 383 from 1940 until 1945.
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2nd Lt. Robert Henry Harvey 2nd Btn. Black Watch (d.5th Dec 1941) Bobby Harvey volunteered, imagine his mother's distress when he told her he had chosen the Black Watch as she knew they usually were on the front line.
We know he went to Syria in 1941 and then to Libya (Cyrenaica) where he was wounded on the 21st of November 1941. On the 5th of December 1941 he was embarked upon S.S. Chakdina for wounded transportation to Alexandria.
Sadly the ship was torpedoed and there is still some dubiety as to whether this was done by the Germans or the Italians. The ship sank totally within three and a half minutes, allowing only those fit enough to get off.
Bobby's family were told at the time that the Chakdina was a troop carrier that had been commandeered as a hospital ship as the hospital ships were overcrowded. They were told that it wasn't registered in time to prevent it being bombed. There is now some dubiety to this as it is known that the Chakdina also had some able troops upon it being transported. Also on board was a very prestigious prisoner of war, named General Johann Ravenstein of the German Panzers who was one of the first high profile P.O.W.s
Many New Zealand injured soldiers were also on the ship and these were New Zealand's only at sea casualties.
Bobby is mentioned on the El Alamein Memorial as well as books of remembrance in Edinburgh Castle and at the Black Watch Museum, Balhousie Castle Perth.
He worked for the Dundee Courier and Advertiser as a journalist. he had done well and been sent down to the London Office which was where he was at the time he enlisted.
He had been a clever youngster and had won a scholarship to Harris Academy in Dundee.
Amongst the effects he left behind were his beloved drumsticks, he loved the drums and played in a band, also his Boys Brigade bible presented for good attendance and his swagger stick.
Bobby died aged 22 and three months, leaving behind his grieving parents Frank and Georgina and his sister Winnie and brother Frank.
R.I.P. Bobby 16th of September 1919 to 5th of December 1941
Robert Henry Harvey Paterson
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Pte. Gilbert James Martin 2nd Btn. Black Watch (d.18th May 1941) James Gilbert of the 2nd Black Watch died between 18th of May 1941 and 2nd of June 1941. Aged 34 he was the son of Herbert and Maggie Jane Lamb Martin, husband of Grace Margaret Martin of Dundee.
He is buried in Suda Bay War Cemetery in Crete.
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Pte. Thomas Charles Dutton 2nd Btn. Black Watch Thomas Dutton enlisted to the Black Watch in April 1944 and trained at the Carrier Training Centre, Perth, then embarked to India in December 1944 arriving in Bombay in early 1945.
He completed Airborne and Parachute training in India, based in Karachi.
He arrived home in May 1947 and was discharged with Military Conduct "Very Good" in August 1947.
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Pte. Peter "Flash" Henderson 2nd Battallion Black Watch This information was only gathered a few months before Peter Henderson's death in August 2017 aged 92 years. He was called up in 1943 aged 18yrs. He was enlisted into the 2nd Battalion Black Watch and later into the Royal Scots. Eventually he was transferred into the RASC and served two and a half years in India.
His Father (also Peter), was already serving in World War 2 (and had also served in WW1, having lied about his age to enlist). They never came in contact with each other during their service - in spite of the fact that his father was also in the RASC.
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Pte. George Henry Sellars 2nd Btn. Black Watch My father, George Sellars, served in the 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch. I think he joined in 1942 and was demobbed in India in 1947. I believe he went to Berwick on Tweed to do his training with the light infantry. However, after training he was posted to the 2nd Battalion Black Watch.
I believe he served at home, in Europe, in Gibraltar and in India.
have a picture of a soldier and the information on the back is Byford B. Another picture sent to my father reads "To my dearest Pal With All My Best Wishes Doug". Another picture reads to George from Jos or Jose.
I slo have four pictures with no information on the back.
This is the only information I have. I would love to hear from anybody who has any information regarding his service or any of his battalion.
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Gnr. Albert "Ginger" Jennings 81st Field Regiment Royal Artillery Albert Albert joined the 7th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1940 as a Territorial for the duration of the War.
In February 1942 he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion, Highland Regiment and nine months later transferred to the Royal Artillery, from 1945 until 1948 he served with the Royal Military Police.
Albert re-joined the Army in 1949 and served in Egypt and Germany.
In 1958 he transferred to the Royal Army Pay Corps, serving in Herford and Verden in Germany, Household Cavalry in London and finally in the Command Pay Office in Singapore.
Albert returned to Aldershot in 1967 and died in the Cambridge Military Hospital in 1968.
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Lt. William Sangster Stewart MID. 2nd Btn. Black Watch     On Tuesday 25th of February 1941, 200 Commandos from the 50 Middle East Commandos landed at Nifti Point, Kastellorizo.
Their mission was to capture the island for the Allies and hold it until a garrison of British Army troops arrived in 24 hours time to fortify the island.
My father, William Stewart, was one of the 200 Commandos landed that morning.
Despite the initial success in capturing the island and freeing the local population, the Italians counter-attacked and landed more than 300 troops from torpedo boats and destroyers.
On Thursday, 27th February, Cpl Bill Stewart was trapped leading his section near the Paleocastro Fort. After attacking the enemy, they were pinned down by heavy machine gun fire from the fort. He was subsequently captured with his remaining men and he was imprisoned as a Prisoner of War in Sulmona, Italy, until 1943.
He attempted to escape three times but was recaptured each time. In October 1943 he was finally successful and escaped to the UK. He was awarded a Mention in Dispatches for gallantry and he was later commissioned as a Lieutenant and he continued fighting until the end of the war.
He returned home in 1945, and in 1961 my twin sister, Frances and I were born. Sadly, my father died in 1983.
We salute him and his brave Commando comrades and the courage of the people of Kastellorizo who fought bravely for their home during World War 2.
It is a sad footnote that the Submarine, HMS Parthian, which cleared the way ahead for the Commandos to land on Kastellorizo, was sunk in August 1943 off Brindisi. My mothers first husband, ERA, Albert Nunn was killed on board.
To William Sangster Stewart, to Albert Nunn, to all the British Commandos killed in action, and to all the Kastellorizans who defended their homes so bravely. Lest We Forget, We Will Remember Them.
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Pte. Francis Rodgers 2nd Btn Black Watch My Father, Francis Rodgers served with the 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch in 1945. Does anyone have any information regarding his service or any of his battalion?
I have some photographs with information on the back@
Paratroopers - 2nd Black Watch R.H.R volunteers. Dropping into Rawal Pindi 1945. Picture of Dad with 3 other soldiers - taken at Malir swimming pool, Karachi. Picture of Dad - left sleeve insignia looks like airborne
Names on back of photographs were Sellars, Cutts, Hart.
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Gnr. Sean John Murphy 2nd Battalion Black Watch I am in the process of researching the history of my father-in-law Sean Murphy who died in May 1993. Any information about his war time service with 2nd Battalion Black Watch would be appreciated and any awards or medals he was entitled too.
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